Some Little Hands Clapping Models

Here's a little 'behind the scenes' look at some of the paper / card models I made for the 'Little Hands Clapping' film. The visual idea was to make all of the elements appear to be made from the text of the book itself. 

Little Hands Clapping

For the last 3 weeks, I've mostly been making this. It's a one minute short film which will be used by publisher Canongate Books to help promote the paperback release of 'Little Hands Clapping' the latest novel from author Dan Rhodes.
I'll possibly blog a little more information about how this was made shortly...

Home Studio

Here's a little glimpse into my home studio set-up for some small scale stop-motion animation work. I'm using the Canon 550d here with Stop Motion Pro; finally a good live view-capable system is in my grasp :) This shoot is lots of quite simple things, small models made from paper etc.
I bought a couple of laboratory-style retort stands yesterday. These have a certain nerd-appeal but are also damn handy as desktop stands, small and versatile and ideal for this mini stop-mo work.
Maybe I'll post a bit more about this work once it's done.

Stuttgart 10

Back in May 2010, I was invited to Germany by the organisers of the Stuttgart Animation Festival. TXT ISLAND showed there in the International Competition programme. I was in Stuttgart for three days; here's a little montage of touristy clips. I've only just got around to putting this together over the Christmas break.

I'd just discovered that Sam's little Panasonic Lumix FX150 camera could shoot HD video (1280x720 @24fps) at this point , so I was shooting everything in 'movie mode'.


Stuttgart 10 : shortfilm by chrisgavin from Chris Gavin on Vimeo.

La Nuova Sardegna (Again)

There also isn't much else happening on the island on the 19th of September 2010, So La Nuova Sardegna again run with the Chris Gavin story :) Thanks to Nicolò Ceccarelli
for sending the clipping.

La Nuova Sardegna (Again)

The 18th September 2010 is a slow news day in Sardinia, so La Nuova Sardegna runs with Chris Gavin's visit to the AniMatti summer school. Thanks to Nicolò Ceccarelli for sending the clipping.

And in La Nuova Sardegna ...

La Nuova Sardegna runs with the upcoming visit to the island by Chris Gavin ;) Thanks to Nicolò Ceccarelli
for sending the clipping.

Lanzarote Holiday Photos

Just back from a week's holiday with the family and here are a few snaps from the trip.  I recently bought a 'new' lens for my Canon 350d stills camera. Loving this retro Pentacon 50mm f1.8. It's got a proper aperture ring  and manual everything; makes it fun to take pictures again

Several places here have the feeling of Bond film locations; burrowed out from the volcanic rock, then kitted out with pools and palm trees. This is the lagoon at the Jameos del Agua, only the King of Spain gets to swim in there.

The cave lagoon at the Jameos, featuring rare albino crabs.

El Golfo on the West coast, now a string of fish restaurants where the lava once met the sea.

There are a lotta cacti on this island. This specimen is to be found in the garden of the Fundación César Manrique; it's as big as a tree. The gallery was once Manrique's house, it's a modern building with rooms below hewn from 'bubbles' in the solidified lava: it's very impressive.

I liked this wrecked cargo ship so much, I came twice to take photos. The first time, a pesky hound was not keen to have me mooching about on its patch.

Sunset over Costa Teguise, our home from home for the week.

TXT ISLAND The Interview

Way back last Autumn whilst at the Onedotzero festival (at the BFI Southbank) I was interviewed about TXT ISLAND. I must have had a lot to say; these folks have only just now finished the editing and it's July now ;) Hardly a scoop, but here I am on the Onedotzero Vimeo channel.

Annecy 2010

Just come back from the Annecy Animation Festival. My film TXT ISLAND was showing in the 'Out of Competition' selection and had three screenings. Could only make it for the long weekend, but worth the effort nonetheless. Lots of animated short films to see, met some fine people and made it to a few parties too.

Annecy is a fine old place, a medieval town by a lake, surrounded by mountains and a river there's a river runs through it...
Like any french high street there are lots of these animated neon pharmacy signs, I'm collecting these...
The foyer of the Bonlieu Centre is the epicentre of this huge and sprawling festival. As of this year it's been going for 50 years now. Somewhere under one of those umbrellas, Nick Park is signing books etc.


Tartiflette is the local dish here. Potatoes with runny cheese on top. Reblochon seems to feature heavily in the cuisine of the Savoie.

The Argentine Film Board threw a fine party at a local bowling alley / nightclub venue. Here we see an acrobat in an over-sized hula hoop.
Followed by a fine demonstration of Argentine tango.
 

Splendid impromptu music-making at the lakeside picnic. That's David Silverman (Simpsons director) on tuba.

It's the closing night ceremony. Prizes are given and the giant balls are released.

Last morning trudge down the hill from the campsite. Head for the TGV station and as  the town awakes we bid a fond farewell to this fine city of animated festivalness..

Living the Brand

Our model wears the classic TXT ISLAND 'logo' T-shirt, seen here in black but available in many other colours at the TXT ISLAND shop.

Stuttgart Fantastisch

Back in the UK today after my long weekend at the Stuttgart Animation Festival. Had a fantastic weekend and met lots of interesting folk. TXT ISLAND was shown in the International Competition and a special 'British Shorts' programme put together by Kevin Franklin.


Stuttgart is a pleasant city. I had lots of fun shooting little video clips after discovering that Sam's little point and shoot Panasonic FX150 shoots 720HD at 24P!

A great view of the city can be had (for free) from the top of the tower above the Bahnhof.

The modern Art gallery on SchlossPlatz is worth a look too.

At the festival, TXT ISLAND was shown in competition programme 5 and the British Shorts showcase. I also did a directors Q&A and a 'making of' presentation too.

Bratwurst and beer. Festival food Stuttgarter style.

The final night party features an impromptu session from a fine sousaphone, melodica and rapper combo!

Thick's a Hit

I went to see Rick Bland's play 'Thick' last night at the Old Red Lion Theatre in Islington. I can honestly say it rocked and I'd heartily recommended it. There's another show at the same venue next Sunday, then the play has a run at the Brighton Fringe Festival thereafter.

The CG Fun Continues...

Back in Maya, the 'plastic' letters looking a bit better now with some fancy HDRI lighting applied...

Letters from America

Just bought a lovely new font 'Now Playing' from New York type designers Terminal Design.
I've got the urge to make some 3D 'plastic' letters in Maya... Just for a few tests at the moment; maybe a new project further down the road...

Journalistic Exploits

I wrote a couple of magazine articles for Digital Arts magazine recently. The editor Neil Bennett has sent me the back issues, this is how they turned out.

Appman

TXT ISLAND In Shops Soon!

TXT ISLAND has been selected to appear on the 'Best of Bristish Animation Awards #8' compilation DVD to be released soon. Check out the BAA website for further details...

Blogger WTF

Apologies that none of my pre-2008 posts are showing on this blog any more. I suspect this problem is down to Blogger's new 'Auto Pagination' policy to arbitrarily truncate everybody's main Blogger page. Unfortunately my simplified blog template has no archiving or 'older posts' interface, so for the moment the older posts will remain un-viewable. Rest assured that the posts are not lost: merely inaccessible.

I've only just come through the forced migration of this blog away from FTP hosting and now this!
Suffice to say many Blogger users are realizing the impact of the new policy and making their displeasure known to Google/Blogger.